Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 6 - Chapter 1.5

  ADMISSION EXAM

“Sora-dual title is here!”

The day following the New Year’s Party.

A small army of reporters lined up outside the association spot me and move in all at once.

–––I knew I should’ve gone in the back door …… 

Surrounded by cameras in the blink of an eye, I partially regret my decision.

I knew there’d be coverage ahead of time.

Because, today’s–––.

“This is the first Admission Exam the Sub League has held in forty-two years. You, as an examiner, will face off against Shouji Karako. What’s your state of mind?!”

“Mr. Karako will return to the Sub League should he defeat you in today’s match, Ms. Sora. Should he lose, his dream will be crushed for a second time. Do the stakes make this match feel any different from the others?!”

“Are you confident you can defeat a former Sub League 3-dan member who has been dominating amateur Shogi?!”

Their questions take many forms, but there’s only one answer I should give them.

“I want to play a match that current Sub League members can be proud of.”

With that, I lower my head just a bit in a short bow before finding a seam in the crowd of reporters and work my way into the building.

“…… Ice cold, per usual.”

“Well, she’s that way with everyone, yeah?”

“Chilled to the bone already. The poor guy doesn’t stand a chance.”

I hear everything they say, but I don’t care. I’m used to this.

I wave to the security guard and buy a sports drink from the vending machine.

Taking the elevator up to the third floor, I stop by the Player’s Room to put all my electronics in a locker: all part of my pre-match routine.

“Oh, Sora 2-dan. Good morning.”

Coming out of the Player’s Room, I run into Machi. She’s got her hair tied back today and is wearing a full suit. Must be in journalist mode.

She glances over my shoulder into the Player’s Room and says with a smirk, “Looks like the Ryuo won’t be coming today. Word is, he’s off to visit a shrine with his apprentices.”

“…… I know.”

Of course, I knew. I’m the one that told Yaichi, point-blank, not to come here today. The idea he would come in never crossed my mind. So irritating …… 

Getting angry, I ignore everything else Machi says and go up to the arena alone.

A full-grown man is already waiting for me in the lower seat when I step inside.

Today’s opponent–––Shouji Karako amateur 3-dan.

Moto-shou.

Basically, he is an ex-Sub League member.

He was already gone by the time I got in, so I’ve got no idea how he plays but …… I know he joined when he was only fourteen and got all the way up to the highest Sub League ranking, 3-dan.

He was in the same year in school as the King: Mitsuru Oishi. Of course, they were in the Sub League together, too.

Even more surprising, he reached 3-dan before Oishi-sensei did, so I’ve got some idea of the kind of talent he has. He used to be one of the Shogi world’s rising stars …… 

“Ah! Good morning!!”

Mr. Karako greets me with a big smile once he sees me. But that voice, this is a Shogi arena, not a sports bar. Keep it down.

“…… Please excuse me.”

I sit in the upper seat, not wasting a moment.

I’m a Sub League member. At the same time, while Mr. Karako used to be a 3-dan Sub League member and is more than twenty years older than me, he is an amateur right now. I outrank him for this match.

I was mentally prepared to sit here, but just in case he decided to sit in the upper seat to get under my skin, I was also prepared to sit in the lower seat if necessary.

The swarm of reporters that ambushed me outside come into the arena and Machi sits down in the journalist’s spot at the board side table to do her job.

The Admission Exam was created to give people who became too old for the Sub League a special chance to join the Sub League’s 3-dan Division.

They must have a certain winning percentage in amateur tournaments and defeat an examiner currently in the Sub League to qualify.

Although it’s an exam, it’s treated like a league match. The examiner’s record is affected by the results.

The two of us finish match preparations with more reporters watching us than show up at Women’s League title matches. All that’s left is to line up the pieces.

As I outrank him, I start reaching for the piece box sitting on the board.

“Oh, yes! Can I ask you something?”

Mr. Karako almost yells as if he only just remembered.

“……?”

I stop my hand just in front of the piece box.

He reaches for a bag sitting beside the board and says with an apologetic look on his face.

“Sorry about this, Ms. Sora. I’ve got a favor to ask you.”

“That being?”

“Would you mind using these pieces?”

Once I saw the small piece pouch Mr. Karako took out–––my blood runs cold.

–––Taikai goma: Parting Pieces.

“……!”

My spirit shakes for the first time at the sight of them. The shock was like taking a slap to the cheek, my head wavering back and forth.

The Sub League used to have a tradition …… They’d give pieces to people who dropped out of the league as consolation.

They stopped doing it by the time I joined though.

No one knows why it disappeared.

Some say the Sub League grew too big and couldn’t afford making pieces for everyone who dropped out.

But, was there ever anyone who was happy to get them?

Some ex-members refused the pieces outright, some threw them across the arena and still others would burn them along with all their old notebooks and match records. At least, that’s what I’ve heard.

And at some point, that tradition disappeared altogether …… 

When did it happen? The weird thing is: nobody knows.

Just like so many Sub League members who had their dreams crushed and dropped out of the league, it quietly disappeared …… without anyone noticing.

But this man here has those pieces.

“What’d you think? They’re not that bad of a set if I do say so myself.”

The pieces fall out of the pouch and scatter across the board.

One look at all those pieces, each one so worn that the corners have been ground down to smooth nubs, and I was immediately overwhelmed by Mr. Karako’s obsessive persistence.

–––A friendly looking middle-aged man.

–––One who once gave up on his dream of becoming a professional but is now on a tear through the amateur ranks.

–––He couldn’t give up on the dream entirely and is now fighting to reclaim it. A beacon of hope …… 

That image of him disappeared like the morning fog.

Right now, the man I’m sitting with across the board …… is a current Sub League member.

A man who’s been suffering in the hell known as the Sub League all these years even after being forced out–––a Shogi Martian.

“What’d you say? Can we use these pieces?”

In front of a higher ranking member, all I can do is nod.

“……… Go ahead.”

“Thanks a bunch!”

Mr. Karako flashes a grin and pushes a King toward me.

“………”

It’s surprisingly cold to the touch …… 

Just as my fighting spirit was starting to catch fire, it fizzles out in a cold chill.

Once the match got underway, my fingers felt frostbitten every time I touched those pieces, getting numb …… And slowly came to a stop.

That chill worked its way through me like poison.

Once the poison completely engulfed me–––I threw a piece in defeat.

“I’m so happy ……! Really, overjoyed ……! I never thought I’d be back here, in this arena …… I’m sorry, words are failing me ……!”

Right in front of me, Mr. Karako presses a handkerchief against his face.

The reporters burst into the arena like an avalanche mere seconds after I gave up and lit up the place with camera flashes.

But rather than taking pictures of him, the cameras are aimed at me in the upper seat …… 

“I really must say, that was quite the contest …… I didn’t think I had a chance until the very, very end. I truly believe lucky fingers won me the match …… This still doesn’t feel real ……”

He shakes like tears are coming.

There’s Machi’s voice. She must be doing the interview, “Mr. Karako, I’ve been informed that you worked as a businessman while also playing amateur Shogi after you left the Sub League …… Do you intend to continue doing both now that you’ve returned?”

“I’ve already resigned from my position. I know better than anyone that the Shogi world is an unforgiving place to people who try to do two things at once.”

Those words roll off his tongue without missing a beat.

It was like the dagger of defeat that had already pierced my heart was getting twisted deeper and deeper with each word.

Almost like he was calling me naïve because I’m doing both school and Shogi at the same time.

“Ms. Sora, thank you for the match! Let’s meet again in the 3-dan Division!”

“……… Yes.”

The reporters start pleading with us to shake hands because they want to get a picture. So I reach across the board and take Mr. Karako’s outstretched hand.

It’s bone dry, and cold.

––– …… He wasn’t nervous about playing against me at all, was he ……?

I didn’t think I had a chance until the very, very end.

Liar.

He knew he’d win long ago and was planning what to say during the interview this whole time.

How he’d …… try to cheer me up: the loser.

“It was just one match, but I can tell Ms. Sora has real talent! She’s much stronger than the people I faced my first time around in the 3-dan Division! With skills like hers, it’s just a matter of time before she becomes the first woman to join it. The fact that she’s only fifteen makes me wholeheartedly believe her becoming the first female professional Shogi player isn’t just some dream!”

Karako 3-dan plays to the cameras, pouring it on like Kansai people do, saying meaningless words while smiling from ear to ear.

“Then again, what do I know? I got into that division at fourteen and ended up dropping out!”

Ha ha! That got a laugh out of the reporters.

He knows that the more he talks me up, the more people are going to like him. He beat Ginko Sora to get back into the Sub League, and then becomes a pro. That story will sell …… He knows it will build up his image as a pro.

His sights aren’t set on the 3-dan Division, but after he makes it through to the pros.

He and I aren’t looking at the same thing.

Victory was all he thought about before our match. He saw that I was mentally weak, found his window and won just as he planned.

–––Because my opponent was ex-3-d …… 

I wanted to kill the part of me that thought of that even for a second.